INFANCY. 
i'S 
In persons affected with worms, the coun- 
tenance in general lias a peculiarly livid and 
dirty kind of appearance, very different from 
that which characterizes mere lymphatic de- 
bility, as in tabes mesenterica, and hydroce- 
phalus. The eyes become dull, the pupil 
dilated, but not averse to light, as in hydro- 
cephalus, the upper lip swelled, the sides of 
the nostrils enlarged, and there is almost 
constantly a violent itching of their internal 
membrane. The breath is remarkably of- 
fensive, saliva is secreted in unusual abun- 
dance; during sleep there is most generally 
some grinding of the teeth, and epileptic 
affections are by no means uncommon ; the 
pulse is intermittent, the febrile irritation is 
not always of the hectic kind, the appetite is 
often voracious, lancinating pains are com- 
plained of in the stomach and bowels, and 
tenesmus, attended with a distressing irrita- 
tion about the anus, is, e pedal! y from some 
species of worms, exceedingly frequent. 
Cough is not uncommon. T hese last, how- 
ever, are more frequent symptoms in the 
adult than in the child. See Medicine;.. 
Causes. — “ The tumid belly, bloated coun 
tenance, and swelled upper lip,” says Dr. 
Darwin, “ are concomitant circumstances 
attending the general inactivity of the absor- 
bent system, which is therefore to be esteem- 
ed the remote cause of the generation of 
worms.” Worms, however, are often pro- 
duced through the medium of intestinal vis- 
cidities, independantly of the absorbent ves- 
sels. The immediately exciting causps are 
some of those already mentioned as produc- 
tive of mesenteric atrophy, more especially 
the reception into the stomach of indigestible 
substances. Dr. Darwin, indeed, supposes, 
that not merely the nidus of worms is thus 
formed from aliment incapable of assimila- 
tion, but that these animalcule are actually 
received from without: for this opinion, 
however, there does not appear any foun- 
dation. Worms are actually engendered In 
the alimentary passage. 
Treatment. — Emetics; mercurial purga- 
tives ; chalybeates ; vegetable bitters ; avoid- 
ing indigestible aliment. For an account of 
the different kinds of worms, and specific an- 
thelmintics, consult the articles Medicine, 
and Materia Medica. 
Sect. IV. — Tickets. (Rachites. Atrophia 
infantilis.) - 
This is* likewise an affection of the lym- 
phatic system- Every o.ie knows the cha- 
racters by which it is marked. An infant 
with a large head, protuberant forehead, 
swellings in the smaller joints, depressed 
flattened ribs, emaciated limbs, and tu- 
mid abdomen, is decidedly rickety. These 
symptoms, in common with . the other asthe- 
nias ofinfants, usually make their appearance 
before the second year. The first indication 
of a rickety tendency is a remarkable ilacci- 
dity of the muscular fibre ; disinclination to 
exertion follows ; and the irregularities above 
enumerated shortly supervene, followed by 
hectic, cough, confirmed atrophy, death, or 
permanently distorted l ; mb?. 
Causes. — Debility, most commonly of an 
hereditary nature, constitutes the predispo- 
sition to rickets. Bad air, bad nursing, im- 
proper diet, uncleanliness, and damp, are 
it--- exciting causes. Hoffman describes the 
proximate cause lobe a deficient supply of 
nervous influence to the spinal marrow, pre- 
venting the due nutrition of parts. Dr. 
Cullen supposes, a deficiency of bonyTnatter 
in the fluids constitutes the disease. A more 
correct account, however, of the essentials of 
rickets, would make it to consist in deficient 
excitement or power in those vessels, by tire 
action of which osseous matter is thrown out, 
and bone constituted. 
Treatment. — Indication 1st. To cleanse 
the first passages from obstructions. Metho- 
dus medendi : emetics, cathartics, calomel. 
Indication 2d.‘ To restore due energy to 
the secretory vessels of the bones. M. M. 
chalybeates, exercise, bathing. 
Sect. V. — Disorder in the bozvels. (Di- 
arrhoea infantilis:) 
Among the morbi infancies in the yearly 
catalogue of every medical practitioner, di- 
arrhoea occupies a conspicuous situation. Die 
griping, green and otherwise discoloured 
laices, pains in the abdomen, with drawing 
up of the knees toward* the stomach, severe 
crying, febrile irritation, and a greater or less 
degree of actual convulsion, are perhaps the 
most common among the diseases of infancy. 
(anises. — These affections, as we have al- 
ready observed, are almost invariably occa- 
sioned by improper diet. Dr. Darwin gives 
us the following relation: “A child of a week 
old, which had been taken from the breast of 
its dying mother, and had by some uncom- 
mon error been suffered to take no food but 
water-gruel, became sick ami griped in 24 
hours, was convulsed on the second day, and 
died on the third !” He adds, “ That among 
the poor children of Derby who are thus fed 
hundreds are starved into scrophula, and j 
either perish or live in a state of wretched 
debility.” Zoonomia. 
Treatment. — -Calomel, with rhubarb, is to 
he immediately given, which is to be followed 
by antacids, such as prepared chalk and 
magnesia. With these are to be connected, 
according to the violence of the disorder, 
aromatics and stimulants, such as cinnamon, 
nutmeg, and opium’ Sometimes it is neces- 
sary to give an emetic. In all cases indiges- 
tible food is to be avoided. 
Sect. VI. — Affections occasioned bn teeth- 
ing. (Dentitio.) 
Pains in the head, convulsions, frequent 
and sudden startings, more especially in 
sleep, eruptions on the skin, disorders of the 
stomach and bowels, cough, and hectic fe- 
ver, are not unfrequently occasioned by the 
process of toothing. Dr. Darwin conjec- 
tures, that “ the pain of toothing often be- 
gins much earlier than is suspected;” and 
that the apparent cause of the disease is in 
reality its cure, as the convulsions, which are 
oftentimes the most violent and then by far 
the most alarming of the above symptoms, 
are commonly relieved when “ the gum 
swells and becomes inflamed ; at other times 
a diarrhoea supervenes, which is generally- 
esteemed a favourable circumstance.” 
In difficult dentition, the pains in the head, 
convulsions, vomiting, and hectic, sometimes 
give rise to the suspicion of hydrocephalus : 
from this, however, the disease in question 
may generally be distinguished with facility 
by the ease with which, in the last case, the 
bowels are evacuated ; by the inflammatory 
redness of the gum, and by the pupil of the 
eye being dilated in an. obscure, and con- 
tracted in a vivid light, the contrary of which 
takes place in hydrocephalus. 
Treatment . — Frequent doses of rhubarb, 
with magnesia, will often allay the intestinal 
irritation, and mitigate the teething cough. 
The gums are to be lanced in ail cases where 
the redness and swelling are considerable. 
This practice can indeed never b,e ■objection- 
able. Antispasmodics for the convulsions • 
are inefficacious while the cause remains. 
Sect. VII. — Croup. (Cynanche trachealis.) 
The characteristics, or pathognomic symp- 
toms of this disease are, difficult respiration, 
loud and stridulous cough, with tiie emission 
of a sound of a peculiar nature, which has 
been compared to the croW of a young cock. 
These symptoms sometimes supervene 
upon the common precursors of violent in- 
flammation ; at other times the disease is 
formed without previous warning, and lias 
been known to prove fatal in a very few 
hours, from its apparent commencement. If 
life is not speedily terminated in this man- 
ner, the disorder frequently runs on for the 
space of six days, and terminates for the 
most part by crisis, with the evacuation of 
much pale urine. 
Causes . — The croup is an inflammation 
of the upper part, as the peripneumony is 
of the lower part of the same organ, viz. the 
trachea or windpipe. It originates from the 
same sources as other inflammation. The 
circumstance of its frequent occurrence and 
fatal tendency in infants, appears to be owing 
to the extremely disproportionate smallness 
of the glottis at tins period of life. The 
cause of death, when it happens suddenly, 
is a deposition of concreted mucus (conse- 
quent upon the inflammation), which lines 
the trachea, and fills up the bronchial cavi- 
ties. Independantly, however, of this cir- 
cumstance, sudden death may be occasioned 
by the great loss of power in the muscular 
fibres of tire glottis, induced by the previous- 
ly high excitement, “ infantes enim miram 
incitationis vicissitudinem, brevissimis tempo- 
rum spatiis, experiuntur.” 
Treatment. — This, to be effectual, must he 
speedy and decisive. Emetics ; copious 
bleeding by leeches, applied near to the part 
affected; blisters; warm bath; antimomais. 
Recently, calomel in large doses has been 
tried, anti with success. Might not digitalis 
prove useful in consequent'^ of its extraor- 
dinary power in rapidly reducing arterial ex- 
citement? 
N. B. Croup, in some instances, assumes 
more of the asthenic than of the infiamma-* 
tory nature; and in this case the disorder of 
the glottis is often protracted to a longer 
period. The treatment in this latter species 
requires to be stimulating. Calomel ; opiates; 
blisters ; volatile embrocations to the throat ; 
nourishing diet. 
For those diseases of young persons which 
often require local, in connection with gene- 
ral treatment, such as distortions of the spine, 
affections of the eyes, scrophulous swellings 
of lymphatic glands, & c. consult the article 
Surgery. 
For eruptive and contagious diseases, see 
Medicine. 
INFANT. From the observations daily 
made on the actions of infants, as to their arriv- 
ing at discretion, the laws and customs of every 
country have fixed upon particular periods. 
